We have pioneered products for our customers for over 200 years and as a 21st century energy company, our plans to create a new global Connected Home business will enable us to continue to meet the changing needs of our customers by providing innovative new products.

This will help not only give our customers greater control over their energy, but in managing their entire home.

We have strong capabilities in this area with products like Hive by British Gas in the UK and Nest for Direct Energy customers in the US, alongside the acquisition of connected homes’ company AlertMe which provides the technical platform to underpin ongoing development. By bringing this expertise together, we can grow our leadership position and expand the products we provide to benefit a growing number of people in existing and new markets.

This announcement follows the launch of five new products [1] from Hive, which puts our customers in control over their homes from wherever they are with just a few taps on the Hive app.

For example, we’ve all left our homes in a hurry and wondered; “did I leave the window open?” or “have I turned the iron off?”. We’re making this a problem of the past by making the connected home of the future a reality.

Hive Active Heating™ 2 builds on the award-winning model launched in 2013, with a range of new features and a new thermostat that makes it that little bit easier to control your heating and hot water. The new features include more flexibility in setting heating and hot water schedules, a holiday mode, heating boost and multi-zone capability which lets you heat specific areas of the home to different temperatures.

Hive Active Plugs™ allow you to switch devices on and off or set schedules. So if you didn’t remember to switch the iron off, you can keep your home safe while reducing unnecessary energy costs.

Hive Window and Door Sensors™ can be fitted to windows and doors and will notify you if they’re opened or closed. You can therefore check your home is secure when you’re out.

Hive Motion Sensors™ help you detect movement in your home when you’re not there. If you’re at work and the house should be empty or you’re expecting your children to arrive back from school, you’ll get an alert if motion’s picked up.

Hive Active Lights™ enable you to turn lights on or off in your home remotely. They can give the impression your home’s occupied when you’re out or reduce wasted energy if you forgot to switch them off.

This new family of products underpins our position us the UK’s leading connected home technology provider.

We’re also the only UK company to deliver the complete connected home experience for customers - from product development and delivery to installation and ongoing support from our call centres and 10,000-strong team of engineers.

But this is just the beginning – we expect to invest a further £500m to drive our connected homes' activity over the next five years to deliver innovations that will make an important difference to our customers lives.

[1] Hive Active HeatingTM 2 is available now while the other products will be released in autumn 2015.